


Your Daddy's Here

by Lord_KH



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Couch Cuddles, Established Relationship, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Future Kannao, One Big Happy Family, Persona 4 Spoilers, Post-Canon, Pregnancy, Romance, kannao - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28642155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord_KH/pseuds/Lord_KH
Summary: Kanji has been caring for his wife, Naoto, who hasn't been feeling well. One night, she calls him into the kitchen, her face gravely serious. Little does Kanji know that his life will never be the same again. Future Kannao. A commission for my friend @Sohlah aka Fluff, based on her headcanon!
Relationships: Shirogane Naoto/Tatsumi Kanji
Comments: 3
Kudos: 36





	Your Daddy's Here

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sohlah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sohlah/gifts).



“Kanji, come. I need to speak with you a moment”

A literal pin dropped, gasping silently as it plummeted from Kanji’s delicate callused hands silently to the tatami mats he was sitting on. After so long he’d gotten used to the kind of tones his wife used, and Naoto’s terse pronunciation of his name with the emphasis on “ _ Kaaan” _ usually meant bad news most of the time. 

As he got up he took a deep breath, preparing himself in case she was grumpy and moody. She hadn’t been feeling well for the past week or so and had been holed up in their bedroom most days, eyes glued to her laptop while she occasionally ran for the restroom. Naturally, this frustrated her to no end, and Kanji had unfortunately borne the brunt of her bearish mood while trying to ensure she actually rested. Kanji knew what he had gotten into and could handle it, but Naoto’s zealotry towards fighting any speck of weakness and insisting she was fine was borderline comical. He had found out the hard way years earlier when, during a bout of food poisoning, he walked into their bathroom only to find her kneeling in front of the toilet, vomiting with her hand over her mouth as to muffle the sound so he couldn’t hear.

What a  _ weirdo _ .

He loved her so much.

Kanji wasted no time hustling from the spare room that doubled as his craft room and to the combined living room and kitchen. Naoto sat at their round table, her shoulders hunched and hands tightly clasped together on the wooden table top. Naturally, despite being under the weather, she was dressed to the nines in her work clothes: a white button-up blouse with string tie, dark navy waistcoat and matching slacks. The only sign that something was amiss was her long indigo hair, normally tied elegantly with a bow, was in a loose, lazy ponytail hung over her shoulder. 

“‘Ey babe,” he cooed, sidling into the seat opposite her, “‘sup? You feelin’ any better?”

There was a mild delay as Naoto looked up, finally meeting his eyes. Kanji swallowed a bit, doing his best to keep focused on the (supposed) seriousness of why she had called him in. Her eyes, gunmetal grey and sharp like the edge of a knife, were, as always, difficult for him to read. Then again, that was one of a million things he loved about her - no matter what it was, from doing dishes to selecting food to solving a crime, Naoto treated every situation seriously and respectfully. It made it difficult to ascertain whether or not  _ he _ should actually be concerned about something, but it was well worth it to be the only person to have the honor of gazing into her gorgeous cloudy eyes and know that they were only for him.

“Kanji,” she began, her fingers squirming, needing to breathe, “Have I...That is, has  _ our _ life gone the way...You would have imagined?”

Kanji’s eyebrows raised. What was she talking about? It wasn’t  _ unlike  _ her to get too much into her head, but she had done a good job of growing out of that. Why this now? He pulled his pink hoodie around the black t-shirt he wore and leaned forward, his long arms taking up nearly the whole length of the table. The question was a heavy one, but he took little time in conjuring up the answer he knew his heart was screaming at him to say. “Honestly? Nah, it hasn’t. Like,  _ at all _ .”

Naoto’s breath sharpened, her eyes widening in surprise.  _ Shit _ , Kanji thought, did he say something wrong? He wasn’t very good with words, and this was  _ not _ the time to do that. 

“W-wait, nah, I-I didn’t mean it like that!” he begged, waving his big hands wildly in front of him, his glasses slipping to the peak of his nose, “I meant like...Like... _ Shit _ , Nao. Yer...Gah, I’m gonna sound so corny…”

Naoto’s melancholic, quiet laugh, like the clink of a wine glass, peaked his interest. Her eyes softened as she leaned forward too. “All the same, I think I would like to hear it. Humor me.”

Kanji’s chest swelled up with air, and for a moment he wondered if there was enough oxygen in the tiny apartment to get him to take a deep breath and relax. It shouldn’t have been hard to say this to her, of all people, but Naoto had been such a huge part of his life that even  _ thinking _ about their life together struck a raw nerve. He wasn’t sensing any negative vibes from Naoto despite her glum disposition, however, so he carried onward, his heart continuing to do the talking.

“‘S like...Ya know, when we were back in high school, I figured I had pretty much already done all the livin’ I was gonna do. Nobody liked me and I didn’t like nobody. Figured that was just how it was gonna be...forever. But then…”

Memories danced in front of his eyes, ten whole years feeling as if they happened only yesterday. A wistful smile eased across his face as he reached out and put his palm over her clasped hands. As always they were so tiny and fragile compared to his, but the feeling of her knuckles bumping up against his palm gave him the energy of ten suns. Enough to keep going.

“ _ You _ walked up to me, struttin’ like you were hot shit. That leads to us meetin’ one afternoon, then a bunch of goofs stalkin’ me afterwards, and suddenly I’m solvin’ a murder mystery and I got superpowers!” He stopped a moment to laugh a bit at how ridiculous that sounded saying it out loud, but it was as real as it gets. Naoto didn’t laugh with him, but he could see a secret smile pop up in the corner of her mouth.

A lump started to swell in his throat. As usual, only Naoto could get him to feel so vulnerable. “And it was the _greatest_ thing that ever happened to me. I thought I was gonna be some loser sluggin’ guys outside a bar fer the rest ‘o my life, but instead I get to use these,” he grinned, holding up his hands together to emphasize his point, “to make cute shit and make _money_ from it! How freakin’ awesome is that!?”

That got another huff of amused air from Naoto, who tucked her eyes forward to look at the table. In that moment, she looked nothing short of angelic, even if she was sick as a dog. “Don’tcha see, Nao?” Kanji asked, leaning back confidently, “None ‘o that  _ ever _ woulda happened if you weren’t with me every step!”

Naoto’s smile kept getting bigger. Kanji swore his earrings were vibrating from how much his heart was racing and thumping in his chest. He got to spend  _ every _ day with this person, he reminded himself. “So...That’s what I meant. It ain’t like how I thought it was gonna be at all, but...I dunno if there’s any other way it  _ should _ be. Fer me at least?” He patted her bony hand, specifically feeling the band on her ring finger. “This is how it oughta be. Wouldn’t want nothin’ else. I love ya, ya little goofball!”

Finally relieved of its duty, Kanji’s heart took a well-earned sigh. He wasn’t a perfect husband, he realized, but dammit if he couldn’t deliver when it counted. As his wife slowly absorbed everything he said, he noticed her hands beginning to clasp even tighter and her smile contorted into a more placid, neutral expression. Naoto didn’t have many tells, but she  _ did  _ tend to get awfully fidgety when it was time to speak what was truly on her mind. Kanji braced himself.

“It...relieves me greatly to hear you say all that,” she began, a blush streaking across the bridge of her nose, “You so often understate your gift for emotional frankness. I...I needed that. Truly.” Her eyes flickered back and forth, suddenly looking quite moist. What had gotten  _ into _ her!? “I want you to know that the things you have said tonight speak for me as well. My life has never been the same since you entered it, and I would be remiss to think that it would ever be complete were you to not not be in it. Love was new for me then, and I thought I would be more than a novice in it by now, yet I still find myself undermining any confidence I may have gained…”

“C’mon, Nao,” he said, chuckling as he scooched his chair across the wood floor, wincing as he bumped the wall hard trying to create a wide-enough berth for his sizeable frame, “Wassup? Yer actin’ like yer dying or somethin’!” Naoto turned her head, her expression grave. For a moment, Kanji wondered if he’d just stepped in it and immediately feared the worst. “W-wait, you ain’t fucking  _ dyin’ _ , right!?”

Naoto’s shoulders squeezed nearly to her neck, her pupils going pea-sized as she responded. “N-no, of course not! I-It wasn’t my intention to frighten you so!” Well  _ sheesh _ , he thought. Some things never changed.

“‘lright...Good!” he chuckled, running a hand through his black hair, not surprised to find that he had sweat a little. “Can’t have you droppin’ dead ‘o some dumbass flu, cause I’d have to join ya.” Naoto raised an eyebrow at his assertion. “”Cuz...well, ya know. ‘’Til death do us part’ and all that kinda stuff?”

“Ah.” Naoto stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking again, her words and tone still shaky. “Were  _ you  _ to die, just so you know...I do not think I would be able to continue on either. That I wouldn’t be able to wake up in the morning and feel you on the other side of the bed, or sit at this table and hear you tinkering around in your room...I-I do not even like to think about such things…”

“Then we oughta  _ stop _ talkin’ about it,” Kanji surmised, pulling Naoto’s head towards him so he could rest his chin in her hair and rub her tense shoulder. “What’s got you all riled up?”

Naoto sighed, and Kanji could feel it reverberate through his fingers and up to his spine. “I apologize, again, if I mislead you. I’m actually not suffering from any sort of flu or infection. Quite the contrary, in fact…”

Kanji perked up. What was that supposed to mean? “Yuh-yeah? How do ya figure?”

His wife’s hands began to slowly unfurl themselves from the tight position they had been in for the past few minutes. She slipped one hand away, which Kanji immediately pounced on, but soon clenched her other hand. Her grip tightened on his, nearly squeezing his big fingers. 

She cleared her voice, clearly speaking over some emotions caught in her throat. “I am afraid to do this, but I simply have to trust that whatever lies ahead, having you with me means I needn’t be afraid.”

Short of immediately leaping into the TV and beginning to battle monsters again like they did in the old days, Kanji didn’t have the faintest idea of what she was getting at. Was this a fight? Surely not; Naoto never had any qualms about letting him know when she was mad before. Was she going on a trip? That was a fairly regular occurrence, and it  _ did _ sadden Kanji to see her go, but she was never gone  _ that _ long either, certainly not enough to elicit this kind of reaction. If it was neither of those, what was it?

Divorce?

Before the thought could linger a second longer in Kanji’s head, Naoto removed her other hand to reveal that she had been hiding something in her grasp. It looked like a pen, although a closer inspection revealed that it was far too wide and complex to be a simple pen. There were two little boxes on the front of it, and they both had a line through it.

Right when he was about to ask what it was, it suddenly dawned on him that he had seen the object in question on a box at the drugstore. But that was a…

_ Shit. _

_ Holy fucking shit. _

His face must have shown exactly what was on his mind, for Naoto shrugged and became bashful once again. “In addition to my brief bout of illness, I was late...There was only one logical conclusion.”

“Buh-babe,” Kanji sputtered, not sure if his tongue was swelling or it was just difficult to speak, “Yuh-you’re... _ Pregnant!? _ ”

Naoto nodded, a sad smile on her face. “You have cracked the case.”Kanji didn’t respond for a moment, his brain temporarily overloaded with a rush of images that was frying his synapses:

Standing at a small tombstone in a hilltop graveyard as a child, his mother’s hand in his, wondering how he was going to get to school if his dad was no longer going to be able to.

Him, all alone in a classroom as a teen as punishment because he had punched another kid for making fun of his dad dying.

Once again at the graveyard, this time telling his dad that he was going to ask Naoto to marry him and that he would have liked to have his blessing.

If there was an even bigger “what-if” than that of Naoto entering his life, it was what could have been if his dad was around. Would he have been proud of him for the tough guy theatrics? Ashamed? Would he have stood up for him against teachers and policemen, like his mother had? 

Would he have taught Kanji what he now knew? How to be a  _ true _ man?

These thoughts had haunted Kanji for years, and the realization that now there was a chance to be the dad he  _ always _ wanted, to help a child so they would never have to suffer the experiences that he had, overwhelmed him. A few tears formed in his eyes, staining his glasses and blurring his vision.

Then, of course, there was Naoto. His best friend. More scenes danced across his eyes: the first time he saw her, brooding and mysterious at the school gates. Humbled and awash with humility and doubt in the TV World at the mercy of her shadow. The evening sun casting her in shadow as she admitted to Kanji that she had feelings for him too. The embarrassed smile as he met her at the altar, her in a tuxedo and him in a bright white wedding dress, an idea to make her more comfortable with her choice. 

She was going to be  _ such _ a good mother. Smart, calculating, and wise. She wouldn’t put up with any bullshit, and there was no way she would let them grow up a big dummy like he had been. 

“...-nji, are you alright? Please say something...I-I don’t know if I - !”

Naoto had been speaking, but Kanji interrupted her by leaping out of his seat and swooping the tiny girl into his arms and clutching her to his chest like a security blanket. He was laughing a big, booming, boisterous laugh that did a fair job of hiding the tears of joy wetting his cheeks.

“I-I’m guh-gonna be a Papa!” he shrieked, his boyhood use of the term for his own dad gushing out of him in a fit of excitement. Not to leave her out, he immediately began to plant kisses all over: her cheeks, her lips, her nose, her eyes, her forehead. Each part of her was beautiful and amazing and deserved it.

“Yuh-yes!” Naoto said in agreement, her voice cracking a bit. Kanji calmed down a bit and carried her over to the tiny couch that took up most of their living room, sitting down with her in his lap and taking a second for them to hold each other and sob quietly. He knew she wasn’t usually for big shows of affection like this, but even still he felt her arms snake around his back and her breath hot against his neck, matching his squeeze. The smell of her perfume, a sweet jasmine scent, clogged his nostrils as he buried his head in her hair. Before long he felt her move to look at his face, a move he mirrored. One, two, three times their lips met, Kanji taking his time to delight in the always-wonderful feel of his wife’s thin mouth pressed up against his.

He would have liked to continue, but a thought began worming into his brain. An  _ amazing _ thought. Breaking the kiss off, he looked at Naoto, beaming with delight. “I-I just realized somethin’!”

Naoto’s face went on a journey from passion, to joy, then to confusion. She quickly wiped away some of the tears on her face “Whu-what is it, my love?”

“We ain’t ever gonna have to buy clothes for our kiddo, ‘cuz their  _ Papa _ is gonna make the cutest shit for ‘em!” 

Before Naoto could answer, he set her aside and rushed back to the craft room, brushing aside the plush doll he had been making and rifling through plastic drawers for supplies. Naoto followed him, an amused look on her face as she leaned against the doorway.

“Surely yuh-you don’t mean  _ all _ their clothes,” she laughed, love tattooed across her face as she admired him.

Kanji wanted to argue, but he knew she was right. Perhaps  _ every _ piece of clothing was a bit much. “I mean,  _ yeah _ , but...Socks! A-and hats! Oh-ho  _ man _ , this kiddo is only gonna know the high life for their little feetsies! Ain’t gonna let ‘em down!”

Even Naoto would have to buy that logic, he thought. She laughed again, walking up and draping her arms around his neck. Kanji got to work picking out a pattern, asking her for input on color, size, and design. 

No kid of his was going to have cold feet and ears!


End file.
